ATLANTA – If there was one player in this Final Four who should have been immune to letting an opponent get under his skin, it was Oklahoma’s Hollis Price.

Price had his NCAA Tournament end early last year when he collided with Indiana State’s Kelyn Block and had a tendon in his right elbow severed. One of Block’s teeth was imbedded in Price’s elbow.

But that pain was nothing compared to the anguish the Sooners’ leading scorer experienced last night. Hounded by Indiana’s Dane Fife, Price turned in his worst shooting game of the season in the Hoosiers’ stunning 73-64 upset of the Sooners.

“Fife did a great job,” said Price. “He was so physical. I usually get around that. But tonight I just didn’t overcome it. He did a great job defensively.”

Price missed 10-of-11 shots, including 6-of-7 on 3-pointers. He tied his season low with six points. When he threw an errant pass to Ebi Ere that was intercepted with 45 seconds left the Price’s agony was etched on his face.

Fife was asked on Friday about his knack for getting under an opponent’s skin. “I think getting under people’s skin is everybody else’s assessment,” he said.

Last night, Fife had a less flattering description of himself as a defender. Fife said he was worse than a pain in the posterior.

“I didn’t think [Price had] seen anybody who works as hard as I do physically and mentally,” said Fife.

Price’s only basket was a 3 from the right wing with 5:45 left in the game that trimmed Indiana’s lead to 57-53 and gave the Oklahoma fans a brief flicker of hope. But Price, who fired up an airball with 15:08 left in the second half and heard it from the Indiana fans the rest of the game, never got going.

To Price’s credit, he made no excuses. He acknowledged getting hit on the elbow early in the game but Price is too tough and classy to use that as an out.

“It bothered me a little bit but that’s not an excuse of why nothing else didn’t work for me tonight,” Price said.

Price has been bumped around and roughed up by life, growing up in New Orleans’ Desire housing complex. When he was 10, he watched an 18-year-old cousin killed in a drive-by shooting. He rarely saw his father, a former Grambling quarterback who never married his mother. His maternal grandparents raised him while his mother struggled with a drug problem that had her in and out of jail for much of 20 years. (She says she’s now off drugs; the two talk regularly on holidays and she was at the Final Four to see him play.)

Price was Olahoma’s best player all season. He was the MVP of the Big 12 tourney and NCAA West Regional. But against the Fife and the Huskers, Price wasn’t right.

“Hollis Price is a big-time basketball player,” said Indiana coach Mike Davis. “For him to go 1-for-11, I thought hurt them. I thought Dane had a lot to do with that.”